<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Karma's a Bitch by Reily96</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228638">Karma's a Bitch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reily96/pseuds/Reily96'>Reily96</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Au Ra Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Character Parallels, Fordola is a good character and deserves a break, Fordola is too hard on herself, Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Multiple Warriors of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), NIN WoL, This is just a nice bonding moment, change my mind, i cant think of tags, oh yeah fordola is also a tsundere, they're referenced but not IN the fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:56:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,067</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reily96/pseuds/Reily96</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Warrior of Light, Sumire Iga, takes Fordola Lupis out of Ala Mhigo and to Hingashi for just a little break away from all the primal hunting. Over a meal of shabu-shabu, their conversation ends up turning to karma, the past, and how one should treat themself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Karma's a Bitch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Oh hey, I finally wrote something involving my WoL! ABOUT TIME. Au Ra Raen, actually a half breed, with a Xaela father and a Raen mother. Her father is Noykin, the horse-tamers of the Steppe - came to Doma to sell horses and eventually settled with a Raen samurai. And then along came Garlemald. Eventually they escaped to the Steppe when it ends up Sumire was a bit of a wild child. That's all you really need to know if the context clues don't fill you in enough.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>     Two sets of chopsticks settled on the last slice of meat at a table in Shiokaze hostelry. The two women holding the chopsticks raised their gazes from the contentious beef, their gazes meeting and setting sparks flying. Neither Sumire nor Fordola budged an ilm, simply waiting for the other to break first. But the Au Ra knew where her advantage laid, and just when the Highlander considered yanking the last slice of meat away… Sumire did The Thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     The Thing, in this case, was somehow getting those huge eyes of her even huger and puffing out that lower lip. Her baby faced cheeks puffed out further, and the pale freckles upon her face almost gave the illusion that the woman’s visage was sparkling. Immediately taken aback, Fordola gritted her teeth. She could resist, she would not lose to this… to this absolute adorableness! The moment she looked away was the moment she conceded defeat! But keeping her stare firmly on the Raen was </span>
  <em>
    <span>doing things</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It almost seemed as if her eyes were getting rounder, larger, and sadder. And with a snarl, Fordola finally yanked away her chopsticks, meatless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Immediately the pouty expression left Sumire’s face in favor of triumph and the Raen quickly took the meat to put it in the cooking pot. “Hehehehe, mine!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     “Oh shut it,” Fordola snapped, feeling heat rise to her cheeks and the smell of searing meat hit her nostrils, reminding her of her loss. “It only happened because you did that bleedin’ thing with your face.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     “When opportunity arises, I strike! ‘Tis the way of the ninja, after all.” The smaller girl said, her gaze focused on the hot pot with eager anticipation, swirling the meat in the boiling water and snatching it out when cooked to her satisfaction. Jealousy tinged the redhead’s expression as the Au Ra dunked her meat in the ponzu sauce and took a big bite. But Fordola’s scowl fell, replaced with exasperated resignation. Shaking her head, and setting her chopsticks aside with a little too much force, she said, “I suppose it’s karma.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     At the final word, Sumire’s delighted expression faltered a bit. “Karma…” she snapped up the last of her ponzu dipped meat and seemed to consider the word. Fordola forked an eyebrow, curious as to why her companion seemed to be thinking so hard upon a single word. The answer came when she finished the beef, “I am not so sure I believe in karma.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Fordola let loose an amused snort. “I’m living proof of it, if I had to say.” Yet despite her initially jokey tone, the air turned somber. Her smirk faltered, and she found herself focusing on a particular area of the red tablecloth. Under her breath, she voiced a quiet, “I’ve done much to deserve the hand bein’ dealt to me now.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Sensing the conversation had taken a bit of a turn from fighting over the last piece of shabu-shabu, Sumire offered a sympathetic, “You thought you had been doing the right thing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Another snort was let loose and she leaned carelessly against the back of her chair, this one self-depreciative and mocking, “I </span>
  <em>
    <span>thought</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but it wasn’t the case now, was it?” Head tilted upwards as if taking a sudden interest in the lighting fixtures above, but closing her eyes, she felt it wash over her. Memories of lost comrades flooded her mind… and not all of them her own. She could feel Sumire’s as well, recalling names that would have had no meaning to her had she not glimpsed them as Sumire had glimpsed her own memories. Meffrid… Conrad… Names of Resistance members that she would remember along with those of her fallen friends from the Castrum. “If I could go back with what I know now, I think I would try to convince my past self to take the blinders off. She’d been foolish, too eager to please, too eager to rush in and live for the goal of a dead man… Too blind to see that Zenos didn’t give a rat’s arse about Ala Mhigo and just wanted a test subject… But past me is about as stubborn as a bloody aurochs; had a one track mind, she did. I doubt anything would really change if I had the ability to go back, and thinking about it doesn’t change the now. I did what I did, so now I need to pay the price. All I can do now is sit in this bed I made for myself and try to make up for it all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     As she had listened, Sumire put her own chopsticks aside, leaning into the table and watching every little subtle movement that her Hyur friend made. The ever so slight emphasis on certain words, the clench of her jaw, the tightness of her muscles as she tried to give off of the impression that she was totally and completely okay with everything she had she had just said. Saying that “everything is fine” when the reality is far from the truth, a sentiment the Raen Warrior of Light knew all too well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     “I think… that is still incorrect. You judge yourself too harshly.” At that, the redhead felt true annoyance. She glared across at the other girl, who seemed rather unphased at the reaction and continued to voice her thoughts, “If karma sees fit to punish you, then that implies karma has an objective view of good and evil. But it isn’t so simple, is it? Good and evil and are very subjective. Not so long ago you had stood against Kokejin, and I, and all the other Warriors of Light and the Resistance because you thought, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>believed</span>
  </em>
  <span> that what you were doing was right - was </span>
  <em>
    <span>good</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And you had every reason to think so. All of the experiences that led you to that point in your life told you that what you were doing was the only way that Ala Mhigo could truly survive and even thrive. If karma would truly see fit to punish you for doing what you thought, at the time, was Right and Good, then it is a twisted and fickle thing I’d rather see done away with.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Fordola hated it. She hated that Sumire had peeked into her mind and saw it all. An irrational part of her mind wanted to say that she had no idea what she’d been talking about, that she knew nothing. But that was untrue. So instead of snapping, she ground her teeth and managed a, “The karma thing was a </span>
  <em>
    <span>joke</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It’s not as if there really is some divine force out there punishing me. So stop taking it out of context.” Despite her best efforts, her words did still spit venom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     “Sorry, sorry,” the Raen raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, “I had no intention to take things so out of context. I merely wanted to say that I think you’re far too hard on yourself. A karmic force may not be punishing you, but I feel you punish yourself overmuch.” Ah, the girl was striking her nerves again. If this continued any further, her teeth would be ground to dust. But if Sumire saw the set of Fordola’s jaw as she crossed her arms and clenched her fingers, she didn’t acknowledge it, and continued on, “You cannot atone for </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Fordola. Nor should you have to. To make up for the deaths of friends that you lost due to a quest for personal power is one thing… But to atone for joining the Garlean military, a step you thought was correct and would genuinely do good? It borders on torturous.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     “I slaughtered my own countrymen!” The words fell out of her mouth before she could’ve stopped them, not that she would have. Being talked down to like this… She </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated </span>
  </em>
  <span>it. Sumire may have seen it all, but she wasn’t actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>there</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she never made those choices. There were other ways, and the twisting mass in her chest that was her heart knew felt the pain of that truth more than anything. She could have continued down her father’s path, peacefully trying to convince her fellows, she could’ve seen the light after her Father’s death, the corruption of Garlemald and how very </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong </span>
  </em>
  <span>she had been.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     But Sumire would have none of it. Apparently having been on the verge of containing her own temper, she snapped back, “As did the Resistance. After all, Garlean military though you may have been, you and the Crania Lupi were still Ala Mhigan. No one is innocent in war and history is written by the victors. Had the Resistance failed and the Empire won, our roles here would likely be reversed right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Silence. Too much silence. Fordola was keenly aware that the other patrons of the Shiokaze Hostelry were suspiciously avoiding looking at their table. Not that she could blame anyone. Right now between the Hyur and the Au Ra was an aura of tension so thick, it could’ve been cut with a knife. Whereas before there’d been sparks, now there was a smolder, like a ticking time bomb threatening to go off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     And then the Raen sighed, and the tension was gone as quick as it had arrived. “I apologize. It was not my intention to make light of your circumstances. The truth of the matter is, I see a lot of… what I might’ve been in you.” Fordola blinked, and with her guard dropped, the Resonant picked up on the faded memories of a small Au Ra girl in Imperial Doma, being beaten bloody by Garlean soldiers during what was supposed to be a nice outing with her family… It was a scene all too familiar to her, made even more so when a large Xaela man, Sumire’s father, had shielded her from further attacks. Her heart ached at the familiarity of the situation. Maybe Sumire had sensed that the Resonant had kicked in, or maybe she had seen the sting of tears near her eyes that she refused to acknowledge were there, but she continued on to say, “I really do fear that you're too hard on yourself. Please don’t run yourself ragged.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     One of Fordola’s biggest flaws, she’d found, was that she had a hard time taking in the perspective of others. If she could pick out her worst quality, that was probably it - it was what led her down her single-minded path achieving her father’s dream. A dream that, while good in intention, failed to take into account that there were simply other people who could not accept Garlean rule… And she had never asked why, never considered it. She had never wanted to. In a way, the Resonant was a blessing and a curse - it forced her at all times to be taking in all these new perspectives. Going back to the thought of karma, if that’s what this was, then it really was a bitch. But it did allow her to see that Sumire was right. They could’ve easily gone down the other’s path had things played out just a little differently. She may not have lived her situation, but… she could empathize more with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     “... I…” Fordola’s face was creased with indecision, a part of her unwilling to stop being angry. Luckily, the other part proved stronger, and her expression softened. “I accept your apology.” However, she did sigh deeply, unsure if she should really continue on with the train of thought but… she’d come this far already. “I hate to admit it but… you may be right.” This time, Sumire seemed taken aback. But the Raen was quicker to recover, offering her a smile that she could only describe as… motherly, almost. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ugh, this must be what the lizard sees all the time.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>     Ah, what was she doing, being all soft?! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Rolling her eyes dramatically and looking away, she quickly sputtered, “Listen, it’s not as if I can just casually forgive myself!” Her cheeks were warm again, and nervously glanced back at Sumire to see the girl’s smile still remained. With a disgusted snort, she mumbled, “I suppose, however… I can attempt to be… a bit kinder to myself…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>    A small chuckle from the other side of the table, followed by, “Haha, you’re adorable trying to pretend like you don’t care, you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>    The Highlander felt her face flare up more intensely. “O-oh, you… you shut it!”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have another thing buzzing in my head involving Sumire... But I also have another thing on my mind of some dragoon on dragoon action... We'll see what happens.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>